Facetime with AirPods & the need to use additional headphones

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Level 1

4 points

Facetime with AirPods & the need to use additional headphones

my wife has poor hearing & we use FaceTime to communicate with our remote children - currently she uses the latest apple AirPods Pro & that works through her iPhone 14 which I connect to my Mac mini M2 & all ok apart I can't hear a word & I'm not heard by my children. I guess that I can select sound from the iPhone for microphone & just use the AirPods for audio output to her - but I still won't be able to speak to my children any suggestions? I've tried listening via the AirPods & then plugging in a headphone socket on the Mac mini but only one device will work, no sound on the AirPods until I unplug the headphones?

Is there a workaround?

Mac mini, macOS 14.5

Posted on Jul 1, 2024 4:17 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

273,240 points

Jul 1, 2024 12:43 PM in response to sansplomb1

sansplomb1 wrote:

currently she uses the latest apple AirPods Pro & that works through her iPhone 14 which I connect to my Mac mini M2

I don’t understand what that means, but it’s almost certainly the cause of the issue.

Your wife’s iPhone 14 is an independent device. It should have absolutely no need to “connect” to your Mac.

When using FaceTime, her iPhone and their associated AirPods can be treated as one device on the call. Your Mac Mini (and headphones if applicable - it’s not clear how these fit into your scenario) are a completely different device and should be a separate participant on the FaceTime call.

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Answer 2

Jul 2, 2024 6:28 AM in response to sansplomb1

In the setup you're describing, you're not going to be able to use two different audio in/outputs, only the one. Essentially the phone is no longer a phone, just a camera.

It may be easier for your wife to use one device separately with her Airpods and forgo some of the geewhiz features of using the iPhone as a camera. But only she can tell you which way is most comfortable for her.

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Answer 3

Jul 2, 2024 7:38 AM in response to sansplomb1

You should definitely let Apple know what you're seeing and how you'd like them to change things:

Product Feedback - Apple

Best of luck!

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Answer 4

sansplomb1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 2, 2024 12:48 AM in response to sansplomb1

Hello & thanks for your comments:

A Mac mini doesn't have it's own web cam, but you can plug an iPhone into 1 of the mini's USB ports which will charge the iPhone & it then becomes a web cam for the Mac mini & is really far better than using Face Time on an iPhone alone (for family communications). The Face time options are amazing using this setup - try it & you will see how good it is, my son who is a big Apple user with far more Apple knowledge than me was impressed by this way of using FaceTime, the screen settings/options are brilliant/Transformal.

The only problem is not allowing dual audio input/output - if you just use AirPods or the standard Mac mini's audio devices, then there's no problem for a single user. Turning on an additional sound device eg. plugging in headphones on the Mac Mini stops the AirPods from working & vice versa with the standard audio devices.

I guess that I could just use the iPhone's microphone for audio input & one of the Mac mini's audio output devices & get my wife to lip read - this would allow me & the dog to enjoy the FaceTime session with my remote family members :-) Not perfect though.

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Answer 5

sansplomb1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 2, 2024 7:17 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Thanks for the input, that is one solution of course - but our experience with FaceTime on IOS is that it doesn't really suit us as a family eg. My wife uses her new iPad Pro all of the time, but not with FaceTime, it's ok for basic functionality - eg. it's all ok during a FaceTime session until one of our grandchildren wants to converse with our dog (who by the way, is a real fan of FaceTime & jumps to when the FaceTime chime starts) & then everything goes wrong. My wife will pick up the iPad & try to get the dog into frame & her fingers will hit one of the options & the screen will turn upside down or worse go blank & lose the connection. We are both pretty ancient as you will gather, so the option of using an iPhone as a camera is great for us, the FaceTime sessions via our Mac Mini are flawless apart from the problem that I have outlined & after a lifetime in computing - I don't give up easily, so will keep the current setup & hope that the new IOS will come with the expected hearing aid option, or multi audio functionality

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